Olympia Development president and CEO Chris Ilitch says it three times in a video with the Detroit Free Press, as he describes development plans his family’s company revealed Sunday for a $650 million Detroit Red Wings hockey arena and entertainment district.

The massive project has been rumored – and in the works - for years, but only last year did its certainty come to light with state legislation aimed at helping to fund it and then a Downtown Development Authority meeting offering a few more details.

Catalytic is a key word, because the area where the 45-block development is supposed to go is relatively sparse. The plotted location is in between two areas of Detroit’s broader downtown footprint that have been seeing significant redevelopment as of late: the central business district and Midtown.

Some may also argue that catalytic is an important word because it helps rationalize using millions of dollars of state taxpayers’ money to fund a private development.

The $650 million development is to be funded with a mix of $365.5 million in private investment and an estimated public investment of $284.5 million. City and state development officials have been quick to stress that no money would come from the general funds of the financially beleaguered Detroit.

Instead, the $450 million sports and entertainment center and accompanying $200 million residential, retail and office district is getting public money primarily through tax increment financing.

State legislation allows Detroit's DDA to collect up to $15 million a year for the project. The primary public funding mechanism for the project will be about $12.8 million per year in property taxes captured. The DDA will contribute another $2 million each year, and Olympia Development will pay another $11.5 million annually. Together, those three commitments will be used to retire 30-year bonds through the Michigan Strategic Fund.

The argument by officials of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation – and of course by Olympia Development itself- is that the project will catalyze further economic development in the core of the city. Private dollars will pour in. Jobs will follow. A currently blighted stretch of the city’s core between the rapidly developing areas of downtown and Midtown will be developed and Detroit will have a much larger, walkable, urban environment with retail and housing and office space.

Or so the catalytic argument goes.

Olympia Development and the DEGC say the new development is anticipated to create roughly 5,500 jobs for the arena alone, and about 8,300 jobs for the entire mixed-use district. The agency says it will have a statewide economic impact of $1.8 billion.

The Joe Louis Arena, by the way, will be demolished shortly after the team vacates the facility. The city of Detroit will ultimately be on the hook for the Joe’s $6 million demo cost, but there again, tax increment financing will be used to pay for it.

That means city economic development officials are banking on the riverfront property near the Cobo Center being valuable enough to attract significant development. The state has already agreed to front Detroit the $6 million needed to raze that arena.

Back on the Woodward corridor, Olympia Development envisions a large entertainment district that will be constructed in just about three years. Chris Ilitch told the Free Press the mixed-use, entertainment district around the 650,000-square-foot arena will rise with construction of the arena itself.

The 20,000-seat arena will be located along Woodward Avenue from Sproat to Henry Street, and west to Park Avenue. The surrounding district is roughly bound by Charlotte Street to the north, Grand River to the west, Grand Circus Park to the south and Woodward Avenue to east.

Plans released by Olympia Development Sunday call for creating five new neighborhoods around the new arena and near Comerica Park, where the Ilitch-owned Detroit Tigers play and near Ford Field, the home of the Detroit Lions.

“The neighborhoods are inspired by historical roots, beloved places or geographical highlights in each area. Each neighborhood has its own distinct personality, expressed by the following working names:Columbia Street – A neighborhood near the Fox Theatre and the Fillmore Detroit that offers entertainment and dining at its finest.Wildcat Corner – this neighborhood, anchored by Comerica Park and Ford Field, offers energetic, athletic experiences at their best. Working name to be determined – The bustling home of the new Detroit arena.Cass Park Village – An energized, eclectic and primarily residential neighborhood.Columbia Park – A fresh, modern neighborhood anchored by a new public green space.”

To south of this area is the central business district of Detroit, where Quicken Loans founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert has not only been buying buildings and properties, he has been renovating them quickly and putting tenants in at a clip that development observers say has not been seen for some time in the city. Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services now owns or controls 60 buildings and more than 9 million square feet of real estate in downtown Detroit.

And to the north, in Midtown, Midtown Detroit, Inc., Wayne State University, the hospital systems and others have all been a part of a dizzying amount of development projects. Small, independent and upscale retail has been moving in.

The $140 million M-1 Rail project, which officially begins construction in about a week, is seen by developers as the cherry on top of it all.

Stretching from Grand Boulevard in New Center to Larned Street downtown, the 3.3-mile M1 Rail line is scheduled to be complete in late 2016. The streetcar will have 12 stops, and will include 20 stations; 16 curbside ones and four along the median of Woodward.

It will tie transportation options to the Amtrak rail line and to downtown Detroit’s People Mover monorail.

And, according to the Mike and Marian-Ilitch owned Olympia Development, about a year after it’s built it will also pass through a completely redeveloped stretch of what is now mostly concrete in between downtown and Midtown.

But what does it mean for the rest of Detroit and for Michigan as a whole? Will it catalyze growth beyond this small pocket of the 139-square-mile city? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

David Muller is the business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter